The game, which is set in ancient Greece, looks remarkably similar to last year's Assassins Creed Origins, which was set in ancient Egypt around 47 BC.

Judging by these screenshots, this game takes place much earlier, making it a prequel to the Assassins' origin story. There's a bit of evidence for this in the screens, though we're left with questions.

It appears the game takes place during the War Peloponnesian, or about 431 - 404 BC. In many of the screenshots you see missions instructing you to fight, kill or weaken the Athenians. One mission instructs you to destroy Athenian war supplies and destroy weapon racks to reduce the 'Nation Power' of the Athenians. 'Delians' are also mentioned.

It would seem, then, that the protagonist is on the side of the Spartans if this does, in fact, take place during the war between Sparta (the Peloponneisan League) and Athens (the Delian League.)

Then there is a mission in one of the screenshots that says 'Return to Thaletas.' While the exact date of the historical Greek musician and poet is uncertain, it's possible that he lived as far back as the 9th century BC. Either way, Odyssey appears to take place hundreds of years before the events of Origins.

How the Assassins and Templar fit into this---likely not named either of those things---remains to be seen.

The map is largely aquatic, making it more likely than ever that we'll see plenty of naval warfare.

The map.

Credit: Ubisoft

Menus/UI

The menu.

Credit: Ubisoft

Menu/UI

Credit: Ubisoft

Interestingly, in this last screenshot you see Hunter Damage, Warrior Damage and Assassin Damage, presumably for bows, melee and stealth attacks.

Combat and Gameplay

A horse.

Credit: Ubisoft

Kick the Athenian

Credit: Ubisoft

Shooting with a bow.

Credit: Ubisoft

The eagle returns.

Credit: Ubisoft

All told, the game is looking quite good though very similar to Origins. That game was the best in the series since Black Flag, so I'm not particularly worried about similarities. It is interesting that, at least in these screenshots, there appears to be no shield for the player character. It seems like shields would have been more pronounced in ancient Greece than in Egypt. Of course, it could just be these particular missions and menus don't feature the shield. Or it could be that Ubisoft decided shields were a poor fit for this series.